Page 25 - YOU Magazine | Issue 2

Digital technology can be liberating for people living with disability as it is a clear facilitator for social inclusion but it can also prove challenging finding the solution that works best for you.
In the first months of 2020,
all Australians were forced to connect online whilst they were
isolating as a means of getting around COVID-19 restrictions.
However, with traditional family celebrations swiftly becoming online video calls overnight, many found it difficult to find the video conferencing tool best suited to their individual needs.
Typically, a video communication tool’s accessibility comes from ensuring that its functionality works for everyone, including those using assistive technologies such as screen readers, magnification, and captions.
Dr Manisha Amin, the chief strategist and visionary at not- for-profit social enterprise group Centre for Inclusive Design, says it’s essential for everyone to be able to participate online as that has become our new normal.
She says it’s less about why people living with disability should be connected but rather, why shouldn’t they be?
“We’ve all shifted so much of our lives to digital platforms in the last three months, much faster than most people would have ever anticipated. With that there have been many challenges. But why should a community be excluded by the design of the internet? Historically, people with disability have been completely left out of the design process, leading to them being inherently excluded by the outcome.”
“Online connection helps ease the extra exclusion a lot of people with disability are feeling at this time. If you use people who are blind or vision impaired as an example for what is happening right now – they could be perfectly healthy
but have trouble keeping to
the 1.5m rule, or signing in on paper to a pub or restaurant. They often have to be up close and personal to see anything, which poses a risk. This is why
it is important to enable them to get the experiences that they are missing out on online.”
For this reason, Zoom appears to be favoured by those living with disability as their video conferencing tool of choice.
Zoom is an app that is easy to learn for first-time users, but has many additional features.
Ideal for those who have hearing or visual impairment, Zoom offers closed captioning options, automatic transcripts and keyboard shortcuts.
It also allows for a tool called
FX Sound Enhancer to be added in to allow a vocal boost option for high-quality audio.
You WINTER 2020 25